League wants to have Sherman, Browner hearing next week

Posted by Mike Florio on November 26, 2012, 1:56 PM EDT

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With Seahawks starting cornerbacks Richard Sherman and Brandon Browner facing four-game suspensions for allegedly testing positive for Adderall, the suspensions won’t take effect until the appeals have been resolved.

Per a source with knowledge of the situation, the NFL wants to resolve the appeals quickly.

The league wants to conduct the hearings next week. The players are resisting, not in order to delay the punishment but because the challenge to the suspensions will arise from irregularities in the collection process. In order to properly prepare for the hearings, the players and the NFLPA will need to consult with experts, and possibly retain one or more of them to testify.

So before anyone insists these guys should taking their medicine for taking something other than their medicine, keep in mind that they have rights — and that these situations often consume several months before they are resolved.

In the case of Sherman and Browner, the source says that both players were subject to random testing on the Monday after a September 2012 game. They recently received notification of the looming suspensions.

Ideally, the entire situation would have remained confidential until the process was exhausted. In many cases, confidentiality is preserved. Here, it obviously wasn’t.

Great news for the Seahawks if they have these guys against the Bears. Cutler would pick this defense apart without Browner and Sherman, but they have a chance to win in Chicago with them. Seattle can beat Arizona and St. Louis at home without their starting corners and sneak in to the playoffs at 9-7.

Is anybody really stupid enough to believe that it actually was Adderall? Since the CBA doesn’t allow the NFL to say why a player failed a drug test, they can all just say it was Adderall so they aren’t forever marked as a steroid user. Unfortunately this negates all of the great things Seattles defense has done this year. Sorry, but it doesn’t count if you make it to the top by using steroids.

The league wants to conduct the hearings next week. The players are resisting, not in order to delay the punishment but because the challenge to the suspensions will arise from irregularities in the collection process. In order to properly prepare for the hearings, the players and the NFLPA will need to consult with experts, and possibly retain one or more of them to testify.

I don’t know or don’t care if these guys are guilty of using PED . But I would love jus for an athlete when they get caught for PED to jus admit it and own it, jus be like yea I did it for an advantage on the playing field

The NFL was doing great until the lawyers started getting involved. Damn I miss the days of players playing football with casts on their arms, able to tackle someone, able to bump a wr until the ball was in the air, QB’s didn’t wear skirts, no tuck rule, no instant replay, no hangnails that kept a player out for weeks, no performance enhancing drugs but plenty of beer and painkillers, when rushing for a 1000 yds was a real accomplishment, etc. etc. Back then football was a sport and now it is entertainment.

I love the people on here saying they think it is something other than Adderall – who do you think you are, cause you dont know what you are talking about? Adderall is a specific drug that is tested along with everything else. If the test says Adderall, its Adderall. If it was something else it would show positive for that drug.

So they took something most kids are prescribed in school?? People need to relax.

I don’t understand why this is a suspend-able offense? All the reports say that they violated the performance enhancing drug policy. Adderall doesn’t make you cover better, read a QB better, run faster, or jump higher. If they were taking it, then it was obviously for studying the playbook and film study. So I don’t know how the league can call Adderall a PED.

I don’t understand why this is a suspend-able offense? All the reports say that they violated the performance enhancing drug policy. Adderall doesn’t make you cover better, read a QB better, run faster, or jump higher. If they were taking it, then it was obviously for studying the playbook and film study. So I don’t know how the league can call Adderall a PED.”

You answered your own question. If the drug helped them remember the playbook or study film, it’s enhancing their performance.

The spirit of the rule is to allow players to play to their natural abilities. If the player lacks the clarity or acumen to understand a book, it’s performance enhancing to augment that.